PHILADELPHIA — Last year’s Eagles wouldn’t have endured a fourth-quarter collapse like they did on Sunday in a 21-17 loss to the Denver Broncos. Last year’s Eagles would have salted away a win with Saquon Barkley and the ground game. They would have lined up, put a hat on a hat, let Barkley do his thing and bled the clock dry.
But this isn’t last year’s Eagles. At least not right now.
Barkley, the reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year, had six carries for 30 yards on Sunday.
Even more baffling, from the time the Eagles took a 17-3 lead early in the third quarter to the time the final clock hit zero, Barkley had one rushing attempt. One.
Barkley didn’t complain about his lack of touches. The star running back said he’s “not in the business” of deciding how many carries is too little or too much.
“I’m in the business of winning football games,” Barkley said.
But Barkley being more involved — like he would have last year — would have helped.
“We were able to find an identity in the run game and be consistent in the run game. That was a big reason why we were able to be successful last year,” Barkley said. “But that was last year. That’s in the past. We’ve got to figure out what’s going to be the reason why we’re successful this year, whether it’s the run game, whether it’s the pass game, whether it’s a blend.”
It certainly wasn’t a blend on Sunday. Jalen Hurts came out firing with a season-high 38 passing attempts. In the first half, it worked. Denver loaded the box and played a lot of man coverage. That presented opportunities for Hurts, DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown to thrive.
But when the Broncos switched to a heavy zone scheme in the second half, the Eagles’ offense hit a skid. After Hurts hit Barkley for a 47-yard wheel route touchdown early in the third quarter, the next four drives all ended in punts. Barkley had one carry, and Denver capitalized.
The Eagles tried at times to get arguably the best running back in the league involved.
The wheel route touchdown was the most successful example of that. Barkley was matched up one-on-one with inside linebacker Alex Singleton and torched him for an easy touchdown. Barkley said that play-call came from Hurts, not first-year offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo.
“We kinda drew that one up,” Barkley said. “Jalen saw something and asked me if I wanted to run that. And I said yeah. Jalen called it, and it worked.”
But those touches were too far and in between and sometimes wasted. With Philadelphia leading 17-10 early in the fourth quarter, a first-down run by Barkley gained seven yards — but was wiped out by a holding penalty on replacement guard Brett Toth. That put the Eagles in a first-and-20 at its own 18-yard line, and a punt followed shortly after.
It looked early on like Barkley might have his breakout game of the young season. On the Eagles’ second drive, Barkley burst through an open hole for a 17-yard gain, his longest run of the season. But on the Eagles’ final 48 plays, he had five rushing attempts.
Asked if he thought that 17-yard run would spark a big day, Barkley said: “I don’t really know how to answer that.”
Six carries tied the fewest in a game in which he wasn’t injured in his seven NFL seasons. It was a confounding stat line, one that fans will hold as another knock against Patullo.
Patullo has struggled to figure out what works best so far this season. Brown and Smith have been frustrated at their lack of involvement in the passing game. But it’s not as if that has come at the expense of a productive, explosive running game.
Through five games, Barkley has 83 carries for 267 yards (3.2 yards per carry). Through five games last year under offensive coordinator Kellen Moore, Barkley had 91 carries for 482 yards (5.3 yards per carry). And that was before Barkley really hit his stride and became one of nine players in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards in a regular season.
Barkley doesn’t blame injury issues on the offensive line for the ground game’s slow start. Right tackle Lane Johnson has been in and out while left guard Landon Dickerson left Sunday’s game with an ankle injury. Both are All-Pro players.
“Losing a guy like Landon doesn’t help. But we still have a lot of talented guys,” Barkley said. “Some people seem to forget that last year when we had the type of year that we had, a lot of those guys were banged up. (Tyler) Steen had to step up. Fred (Johnson) had to step up.”
And even still, Barkley popped. This year, he hasn’t.
Maybe that will come on Thursday when Barkley faces his old team. Maybe the Eagles will find its identity in the running game, like they did after a 2-2 start last year.
Or maybe they won’t. Maybe Patullo will prioritize the passing game against the Giants, and Barkley will be an afterthought.
Maybe this year’s offense isn’t going to be like last year’s. And maybe Barkley — and the offense overall — will continue to struggle because of it.
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